Poll: 6 in 10 Americans Think Media Reports Fake News

by Don Irvineon March 30, 2017

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A new poll shows that a majority of Americans believe that both online news sources and traditional media outlets are guilty of publishing fake news.

The poll, released Wednesday by the Monmouth University Polling Institute, found that 80 percent of respondents thought that online news sites published fake news either regularly or occasionally. Traditional news outlets fared a little better, with 60 percent of those polled believing that they published fake news, either regularly or occasionally.

Republicans (79%) and Independents (66%) are more likely than Democrats (43%) to say that traditional outlets report fake news, but a majority of all three groups feel that online news sites intentionally publish fake news.

Among news sources, respondents said that they trust ABC over Fox News (44% to 32%) or MSNBC (36% to 18%). Fox and MSNBC are tied (39% to 39%) when matched against each other. Republicans trust Fox (67%) more than MSNBC (10%), while Democrats trust MSNBC (67%) more than Fox (19%). Predictably, Republicans trust Fox (65%) over ABC (16%), but Democrats actually trust ABC (41%) over MSNBC (25%).

When it comes to Donald Trump, 81% of the public believe he has a worse relationship with the media than past presidents had. Only 4% say his relationship is better. A majority of those polled (58%) say that Trump’s image has been hurt by his contentious relationship with the media, but 32% say it has not affected his image either way. On the other hand, 51% say that the media’s image has been hurt by their relationship with Trump, with 39% saying it hasn’t changed at all.

Trump has upended the media landscape since taking office. That has created consternation among the liberal media, which have to get used to the idea that they are no longer the main source for news coming out of the White House.